Next year, you may decide to go away to university or get a job where you are no longer living at home, you will need to be able cook and eat healthy meals. Cooking for yourself, rather than reheating ready meals or buying a takeaway is far cheaper and healthier option for you. 

 

1. Think about your current eating habits. Write a food diary for your week listing the types of meals you have and their rough cost:

• Breakfast

• Lunch

• Dinner

• Snacks

• Also list any energy or fizzy drinks you drink, 

• List how much water you drink per day

 

   2. Discuss as a group.

• What themes have emerged from this?

• How healthy are you as a group?

• How much processed food do you eat and how much does your food cost you per week?

• How many energy drinks and fizzy drinks do you drink, compared to water?

 

3. Why is drinking water important? Read the information below:

 

Drinking Water Facts

Almost two thirds of our body is made up of water, so it's no wonder that when we don't drink enough we start to suffer.Government guidelines reckon we should try and drink at least eight glasses a day and some nutritionists claim that a staggering 80% of us are walking around dehydrated! This lack of fluid could affect your health, your weight and even your job - here we've rounded up 9 more benefits of water. 

Water helps you keep a healthy weight

A lot of people confuse feeling thirsty with feeling hungry so they eat when their body wants them to drink something. When you're dehydrated, fat cells become harder to break down and so anyone actually trying to diet will find it a lot harder if they don't drink very much. 

It stops headaches and dizziness

Don't reach for the pills straight away, your headache could be a symptom of being dehydrated so drinking water should make it go away. 

It clears your skin

Most people know that drinking more water can be good for clear skin and it can also help the symptoms of acne. Water flushes toxins out of your body.

It fights infections

Drinking water can help fight infections all over your body, not only because it flushes out toxins but because when you're dehydrated you're more likely to catch a bug.  Even cold sores can be reduced by drinking more water because they tend to pop up in places where your skin is particularly dry.

It makes you exercise better

It's common sense to replace the fluids you lose when you sweat with water, but what might not be obvious is that your body works better and harder during your workout if you drink water.

It improves concentration

Because your brain is made of around 85% water if you get dehydrated it can affect your concentration and even your short-term memory. It has a particularly strong effect on your maths skills and it's all because lack of water causes your brain's energy levels to decrease.

It boosts your energy

In the same way that not drinking enough water makes your brain slow down it has the same effect on your body. For example, your muscles are around 75% water, your bones are about 22% and your blood is around 83%. If you're dehydrated, all these body parts don't work as well as they should meaning you lack energy and feel tired or lazy. 

It supports your heart

The hardest working muscle of all needs a lot of water to keep it going at full speed. When you get dehydrated your blood gets thicker so the heart has to work even harder. And if your heart is weak it can lead to more serious heart problems later in life. A study by Eden found that drinking more than five glasses of water a day could cut your chances of having a heart attack by 41%, compared with people who drank less than two glasses a day.

 

How much water should I be drinking?

A general rule is to drink 2 litres of water a day.This is the equivalent to a large bottle of fizzy drink or three-and-a-half pints.

 

You can get a certain amount of water from tea, coffee and fizzy drinks but they're all what's called diuretics - in other words they make you wee a lot more as well as increase the amount of water your body uses. They also don't quench your thirst like water does.